are we on the upswing

We’ve had no offense to speak of since Ben retired, brought in a terrible OC fit to run it, and the stars on our defense, who were carrying a lot of the load are aging fast. We actually squeaked into the playoff due to injuries of other stars (such as Burrow last few years, Mahomes last year).

 

Crazy how not great Qbs, and not great OCs go hand in hand, and yet we still made the playoffs 3 years in a row with 3 different sets of Qbs.

 

Yep, the offensive rebuild from the end of Ben's career on was pretty brutal. Both the players and the coaching.

 

We had the 15th ranked offense in 2025 so this statement is not true

None the less I understand your point

It would be nice to be better

 

For me, I believe this is it for Lamar's run with the Ravens as far as a Super Bowl window is concerned. I have already touched on in depth on how losing Tyler Linderbaum is going to sting a lot more than people give it credit for. Furthermore, losing six other starters/key players as well is no small feat either. How much longer is Derrick Henry going to hold up?! Silly question at first given his sui generis build as a Running Back but Father Time is undefeated. I personally didn't see any loss of anything from him but this will be something to monitor for certain. In short?! Either Lamar can win it all this season or he isn't likely to win it at all. Seems very, very short sighted but unlike many QBs, Lamar's Career is heavily tied to his legitimate 1 of 1 athletic ability. No QB in NFL History has been a more deadlier Dual Threat than he has. That said, this also means that his gifts are on borrowed time; nicks and bruises piling up year after year.


As for Cincy?! While it is true that Burrow has shown he is not to be relied upon to finish a full season consistently, he is still a Top Five QB nevertheless. Chase and Higgins are going to be issues; a Top flight Corner tandem needed to stop both. OL is still very much a question though, like Pittsburgh, Cincy also has some very nice young pieces to work with. Connor Lew was one of the best Centers prior to his injury and Brian Parker II is one of the most underrated IOL players from the 2026 Class. Not a displacement player but very smart and technically sound. Fairchild will be better and Karras is a steady eddie. Orlando Brown is serviceable but Amaris Mims... I expect him to take the next step. The upgrades though are from Defense; the biggest one is Dexter Lawrence. Again, it remains to be seen if Dex can recapture his 2024 form from a pass rushing standpoint but his mere presence is an issue; you have to double team him. Otherwise, he can wreck shop. It will be up to the likes of Myles Murphy and Boye Mafe to win their 1 on 1s.


Cleveland is Cleveland; Myles Garrett leaving making that point clear.


Overall?! I stand by my prediction about the Steelers chances; will come down to the wire.

 

we looked worse than 15th.

 

We did

 

so the Bengals may be more of a challenge than the Ravens, i can see that if Burrow can stay healthy. For the steelers, can AR have a comeback year? I think it comes down to that. Not an MVP year, just noticeably better than last year.

on a side note, i think Randall Cunningham and Steve Young were better dual threats than LJ, just IMO.

 

We were also basically average with Fields/Wilson.

Ranking was 16. We were 0.2 ppg behind KC who were 15. So basically equal to the median.

But it seemed like the fumble in Baltimore kind of broke Wilson. I was hoping we'd go back to Fields at the end of the season. But I don't think it would have made a difference in the end result.

It's the Kenny/Canada years that were dreadful.

• 2023: 28th @ 17.9
• 2022:26th @ 18.1

Glad the team did the two most un-Steelers like things I remember them ever doing: firing an OC mid season & giving up on a high pedigree QB only half-way through their rookie deal.

They should have fired Canada a year earlier IMO. But I don't think it particularly mattered with that QB.

 

The OL rebuild should not have taken as long as it did. Ignored for too long, then bad choices made to compound the error. Weidl has set the focus right in the draft.

 

on both sides of the ball the lines have gotten better. i would also put our secondary overall with as good as any if they stay healthy. offensive additions and defensive additions as well as depth. omar was part of this as well. this is why i think we are on the upswing. we match up well with most and better than last years team.

 

This.

I think we were too focused on trying to give Ben weapons for a last run or two. Hoping that the old line could hang on...or at least not snap a ball 2 feet over our enormous QB.

 

That's because Tomlin's philosophy of don't turn the ball over, force some turnovers and have a strong kicking game will win most NFL games. Tomlin understood that more often than not you don't beat the other team, you wait for them to beat themselves. That's how you get a winning record with Duck Hodges, Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett etc. If Tomlin would have had a Dan Campbell mentality of go for broke and let's roll the dice game plan the Steelers wouldn't have won more than 5 games a year.

 

The flip side is when you get to the post season teams don't often beat themselves. Notice how the defensive TOs dry up and the Steelers lose games? (except the last playoff for the offense dried up ).

 

Yes that's the downside of this philosophy. It will beat most teams but it can't win against the very good teams that you meet in the playoffs. Thus the nearly decade long drought of not winning a playoff game.

 

Yep. With the group of QBs you listed, you can't go into a game thinking you're going to win a shoot out.

Kenny was basically (maybe even literally if you have some qualifying number of snaps) the worst QB at throwing TDs in the UFA/Cap era. Don't screw it up is the only potential strategy in that situation. Especially with the mandate from the owner, which is "don't play meaningless games in the regular season".

I think part of the reason the Steelers had hired HCs young (prior to MM) is that they want to shape them within the organization. Tomlin was basically the "perfect" HC for the team's mission statement. Because that's how he was trained.

Yep. High floor. Low ceiling.

Make the playoffs with teams that probably should be there (especially if there was still only 6 teams in each conference). Get blown out by one of the best teams in the league.

Then pick low so you don't really have a chance to get a QB who will change the cycle.

 

True...This is why Tomlin has a high floor....This is not his fault but with a Dan Cambell mentality,possible the steelers would have less that 5 years in one season but it would been better in the long run....Like the steelers were better that the lions in 2021,in the first year of Dan Cambell,since the lions were in full rebuilding mode but in the long run,the lions are much better....I know the lions did not make the playoffs in 2025 and the steelers beat them but I expect the lions to win the NFC north in 2026 and compete for the super bowl....The lions were my pick in the NFC in 2026 before the Myles Garrett trade to the rams

 

I do think that Cambell is a good coach.

But if I had the chance to make a swap anything with the Lions from 2021 to 2024, I'd much rather swap QBs than HCs.

 

Goff is a much better QB that what the steelers have had since 2019 but Lions have also a much better roster since 2023 especially on offense, even if we exclude the QB.

I don't think Goff would have been productive with us in a Matt Canada or Arthur Smith offense.Better that Pickett and the other washed QB....Very likely but not close to his production in Detroit

 

Guys, I’m a Browns fan and this is a great post. Are the Steelers on the upswing? I’ll tell you a story. Back in 1999, at a bar in Akron, Ohio we used to meet up every Sunday for the games. I overheard a guy from another table say that if Tim Couch was on the Steelers, they would be a Superbowl team. - At that time, I thought it was nonsense. The Steelers were a mediocre team without a great QB. Pay respect to Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart. And in 2004, they drafted Big Ben. Guy was incredible, and that guy at the bar was right.
My point: I think that the Yinzers are a QB away from being great again. See if Rodgers can get you to the promised land this year. Then trade the farm for a high draft pick and get your qb.
As for us Browns fans, last year would have been the year. The AFC was horrible and had we stayed the course with Baker, we would have been in the Superbowl. No question. And at this point, the Browns aren’t in the same boat as the Steelers, as we don’t have a QB at all. The 2027 draft and the decisions by the higher ups will influence the next 10 years of both teams.

 

I still agree with @NorthernBlitz that the QB position in the last several years was a much bigger problem that the head coach....But my biggest problem with Tomlin(other having a very questionnable or bad coaching staff around him like Matt Canada who was not a NFL caliber OC)was his system of play to not lose,who is maybe good in the short term and also have a higher floor but it was bad for the long run,even if the talent of the team was below average on offense

 

I agree with this.

And I think a lot of this was Tomlin responding to the incentives of his employer. And I think he was just the right guy to do it.

It would be interesting to see some bizarro world where Tomlin got hired by a team like the Rams who's business model (at least since moving) seems to be going all in. I wonder if he could coach in a system like this. Or if the defensive mindedness wouldn't really mesh.

 

Thanks for posting here.

FWIW, I think we wouldn't have been good with Tim Couch. But maybe not as bad as we were with Kenny? It was a different time though, when you could still be a pretty good team with an OK QB. So maybe Cowher could have done something with him (but probably mostly letting him hand it off on 1st and 2nd).

Because you brought up Ben, I have to ask.

At the time, did you think that Kellen Winslow was a reasonable choice instead of Ben?

When CLE passed on him, I was pretty sure he was going to fall to us. But I remember before the draft thinking that we wouldn't get any of the 3 QBs because CLE would take the 3rd one.

Do you think it was the small school thing that scared CLE off? I don't remember who their QB was at the time, but I feel like it wasn't someone good. Looking at PFR, Couch was drafted in 1999 and started 8 games in 2023 (then left the NFL). So I assume the Browns didn't have a starter...but maybe I'm misremembering...